Jeff Baker, CEO, founded Canine Caviar in 1996. He has a background as a researcher in a pharmaceutical company. The company is family operated from its home base in Riverside CA.
The company makes its foods in the US and shipped to many countries worldwide. It doesn’t appear the company makes its own food but uses a third party manufacturer.
For our Canine Caviar dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety of each line of food. Our dog food reviews are based on these criteria.
IS CANINE CAVIAR A GOOD DOG FOOD?
Canine Caviar offers 2 lines of dog food. By our criteria, the canned food is a low risk dog food, and the dry line is a high risk dog food.
The company says its foods are part of an alkalizing diet. They have herbs and vitamins that can keep a pH level between 7.1 and 7.4. It’s said a healthy range is 6.5 to 7.5. A dog with high pH may get more urinary tract infections. Dry skin, smelly urine, and straining to urinate can signify low pH. Nutrients, vitamins, and moisture from a raw diet can balance a dog’s pH levels. Dry foods with high carbs and synthetic vitamins and minerals are a concern.
Carbohydrates are in millet, chickpeas, rice, quinoa, and peas. They are typically alkaline and have very high average carbs of 37%. Proteins are acidic but the average protein levels are quite low at 27%.
High carbohydrates is a sign of food quality. It’s used to cut costs. High carbohydrate foods can raise insulin and cause obesity. Studies show that dogs fed a high carbohydrate diet have changes to their gut bacteria.
The company says this diet can address health issues. These include diabetes, heart disease, liver and kidney disease, digestive upsets. They say it can help with scratching and hotspots. Proteins should be free range to be helpful. Factory farmed proteins can be very inflammatory. Coconut is also inflammatory. It’s not a true MCT oil, which would have anti-inflammatory benefits. Dogs with kidney issues would need more moisture, not a dry food diet.
Canine Caviar bases its canned foods on whole animal proteins. It has no added vitamins and minerals, which is rare for a canned dog food. Several recipes have more carbs than expected in a canned food. Overall the average protein of 43% is acceptable.
Canine Caviar says its canned foods can be fed as a treat or supplement. It can be the base meat for an alternative raw meal. They don’t meet AAFCO’s nutrient recommendations for a “complete and balanced food.” It’s noteworthy that AAFCO is a private organization. It doesn’t regulate, test, approve, or certify pet food.
The company website states recipes are 55 to 65% meat. We used the guaranteed analysis. It shows that the wet foods have 42% protein on a dry matter basis. The dry recipes have 27% protein.
The company obtains most of its ingredients from the USA. The exceptions are lamb from New Zealand, goat from Australia, and buffalo from India. Duck is from the US and France, kelp from Norway, and some vitamins are from Europe. They also use wild-caught fish products. They are more nutritious and have a better fatty acid balance than farmed fish.
Canine Caviar is one of few companies to list the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in its dry recipes. This is good to know since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. Overall, Canine Caviar canned dog foods are a good option. They score much better than the dry foods.
Let’s look at each line in a little more detail.
CANINE CAVIAR DRY
Score: 4.8/10
Ingredient List For Leaping Spirit Recipe: Venison meal, pearl millet, lamb fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), coconut, sun-cured alfalfa, coconut oil, sun-cured kelp, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, sodium chloride, lecithin, choline chloride, fos or fructooligosaccharide (prebiotic), fenugreek, peppermint, taurine, zinc proteinate, papaya, rose hips, yucca schidigera extract, anise oil, thyme oil, manganese proteinate, beta-carotene, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, selenium, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid.
Canine Caviar Dry is a high risk dog food by our criteria. Canine Caviar Dry has 8 recipes. They average 27% protein and 37% carbs. The foods lose points for ingredient quality. They have high carbohydrates and added vitamins and minerals. They are ultra processed and have high pesticide and GMO ingredients in the top 5. That loses ingredient safety points.
Dry Benefits
- Single protein
Dry Concerns
- High in carbohydrates
- Added vitamins and minerals
- Contains coconut oil
- Ultra-processed
- High pesticide ingredients in top 5
- High GMO ingredients in top 5
- Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio
- Glam ingredients
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
CANINE CAVIAR CANNED
Score: 8.6/10
Ingredient List For Synthetic Free Beaver Recipe: Beaver, vegetable broth, fenugreek seeds.
This line scores quite well. By our criteria, it’s a low risk dog food. Canine Caviar Canned dog food has 6 recipes. They average 43% protein and 18% carbohydrates as calculated on a dry matter basis. This is with moisture removed, for comparison with dry foods. It loses food quality points for having higher carbohydrates in 4 recipes. It uses fish oil, which is an unnamed animal protein. These foods lose food safety points for being highly processed.
Canned Benefits
- High protein
- No added vitamins and minerals
- No added amino acids
- Wild salmon
Canned Concerns
- Highly processed
- High carbohydrates in 4 recipes
- Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
CANINE CAVIAR DOG FOOD RECALLS
To date, Canine Caviar has not had any recalls or voluntary withdrawals.
Evaluation Criteria
We evaluate and score dog foods based on two criteria:
Are the Ingredients High Quality?
Here are some common low-quality ingredients or markers we look for:
- Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
- Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
- Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
- Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
- Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
- Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?
How Safe Are the Ingredients?
Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:
- How processed is the food?
- Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
- Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
- Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
- Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?
Each food is objectively evaluated by these criteria and a score is assigned using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. Dogs Naturally has partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to make sure dog owners have unbiased, objective criteria to help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.
